Tuesday, January 15, 2008

It used to be that all the local Indian markets had snack packages of Spicy Cashews, that is, cashews with chili powder, which make a nice appetizer or snack with a few drops of lemon juice. But lately we cannot seem to find them. It's not like they're hard to make at home, sprinkling some cayenne on roasted cashews, but nuts bought for that purpose never seem to last that long. Fortunately, the supermarket has taken to stocking some Hot & Spicy Peanuts.

A number of fundamental foodstuffs originate in the Americas, such as chili peppers, squash, potato and maize. And a number of foods made their way into the American diet, and particularly the Southern American diet, from being originally the food of slaves from Africa, such as okra, black-eyed peas and, to some extent, sesame seeds. Peanuts are unusual, if not unique, for coming from the New World to North America by way of Africa.

This post is one of two; it covers texts of European discovery and classification. The second post covers the spread around the world, including back to America.

The peanut originated in South America, probably in what is now Bolivia. It was extensively cultivated in nearby Brazil and Peru, where a fossilized peanut hull dated 7,600 years ago was found. It is nutritious. It does well in otherwise marginal sandy soils, which its pegs need to penetrate, and is good for the soil because as a legume it fixes nitrogen. It had spread north to Mesoamerica before the arrival of Europeans.

Concerning the maní (peanut), which is another fruit and ordinary food which the Indians have on Hispaniola and other islands of the Indies.

Another fruit which the Indians have on Hispaniola is called maní. They sow it and harvest it. It is a very common crop in their gardens and fields. It is about the size of a pine (piñon) nut with the shell. They consider it a healthy food. However, the Christians do not use it unless they are unmarried males or children, or slaves and common people, who do not pamper their taste. It has a very mediocre taste and little substance. Its consumption among the Indians is very common. It is abundant on this and other islands. (tr. Latham in Hammons, “Early History and Origin of the Peanut,” in Peanuts : Culture and Uses, from what is probably closer to the original text, which does not seem to be online)

They had another fruit which was sown and grew beneath the soil, which were not roots but which resembled the meat of the filbert nut of Castille. I say, that they were neither more nor less than filbert nut without the shells, and these had thin shells or pods in which they grew and were covered in a different fashion than filbert nuts because they were in a manner similar to how beans are found in the pods, because these pods were not green nor soft but were dried in a manner of the sweet pea or chick pea of Castille at the time they were ready for harvest, they are called maní, with an acute accent on the last syllable, and were so tasty that neither hazelnuts not walnuts, not any other fruit fruit of those in Castille whatsoever could compare for taste. And because still if you ate too much of them for their good taste, then you got a headache from them, but not eating too much does not hurt the head nor cause other damage; it is always eaten, for they know it very well, with cassava bread, or wheat if they have it. (tr. after Latham)

The Taino word mani is still used in American Spanish outside Mexico for 'peanut'. Garcilaso de la Vega, “El Inca,” the son of a Spanish father and noble Inca mother, explains why he uses it as well as the Quechua word inchis in his Comentarios Reales (1609):

There is another vegetable which is raised under the ground, called by the Indians ynchic. It is very like marrow, and has the taste of almonds. The Spaniards call it maní, but all the names which the Spaniards give to the fruits and vegetables of Peru belong to the language of the Antilles. They have been adopted by the Spaniards, and therefore we speak of them as Spanish words. If the ynchic is eaten raw it causes a headache, but when toasted it is wholesome, and very good with treacle; and they make an excellent sweetmeat from it. They also obtain an oil from the ynchic, which is good for many diseases. (tr. Markham)

The vegetables that grow in the earth

There is another fruit that grows underground which the Indians call inchic and the Spaniards maní [peanuts]—all the names that Spaniards apply to the fruits and vegetables of Peru are taken from the language of the Windward Islands and have now been adopted into Spanish, which is why we give them. The inchic is very like almonds in consistency and taste. It is bad for the head if eaten raw, but tasty and wholesome if toasted. With honey it makes an excellent marzipan. An excellent oil useful for many illnesses is also extracted from inchic. (tr. Livermore p. 501)

… but there so many exist that I cannot count them. Those that occur to me now, in addition to potatoes, which are the chief roots, are ocas and yanaocas and yams and sweet potatoes and jícama and yucca and cochuchu and cavi and totora and peanuts and a hundred other kinds that I cannot recall. (tr. López-`Morillas)

Maní even enjoys a marginal existence in English; it is in the OED mostly because of early translations from Spanish, starting with Grimeston's version of Acosta:

Of divers Rootes which growe at the Indies

But in those countries they have so many divers sortes, as I cannot reckon them; those which I now remember besides Papas, which is the principall, there is Ocas, Yanococas, Camotes, Vatas, Xiquimas, Yuca, Cochuha, Cavi, Totora, Mani, and an infinite number of other kindes, as the Patattres, which they eate as a delicate and toothsome meate. (pp. 260-261; preview; EEBO)

In South America, there are a number of closely related / borrowed peanut words: Taino maṉu´u̯i, variously spelled mandobi, manobi, mandowi, mundubi, munui; Guaraní manubi; “Chiriguano” (that is, Argentinean Guaraní) manduvi; Pilagá mandovi. Antonio Krapovickas, in a paper “The origin, variability and spread of the groundnut (Arachis hypogaea)” in The domestication and exploitation of plants and animals, from 1969 (and so before heavy-duty genetics), lists (snippet) these and some unrelated terms like Aymara cho'kopa (“Choccopa”) and Tucano yatubu. He suggests that insight on the spread can be gained by comparing the common words with linguistic affiliations, though I wonder whether there aren't too many extraneous factors involved. Much of the wordlist comes from a trio of papers by Auguste Chevalier in Revue Internationale de Botanique Appliquée et d'Agricolture Tropicale from 1933-1936 titled, “Monographie de l'Arachide,” and in particular the section, “Noms de l'Arachide Dans les Differents Pays” (pp. 740-747), which list hundreds of peanut words. It would be a valuable resource, but I haven't tracked down any copies yet.

They came first to a people called Surukufers, who had Turkish corn, manioc, and other roots, such as mandues, which resemble hazel-nuts, and also fish and meat. (tr. Dominguez for the Hakluyt Society 1891)

These therefore in the beginning come to a Nation, called Surucusis, having Maiz, Mandeoch, and other Roots of that kind, and Mandues also (which are like our Filbirds) and fish and flesh. (from a reprint of the 1625 translation in Purchas his Pilgrimes)

The savages have likewise a kind of fruit that they call manobi, which grows in the earth like truffles, and are connected to each other by little filaments; the kernel is no bigger than that of our hazelnuts, and has the same taste. They are of a grayish color, and the husk is no harder than the shell of a pea; but as to whether they have leaves and seeds, even though I have eaten of this fruit many times, I must confess that I didn't observe it well enough, and I don't remember. (tr. Whatley p. 110)

We have to pay special attention to the peanut because it is known only in Brazil, which sprout under ground where they are planted by hand, a hand's breadth apart, the leaves are similar to those of the Spanish beans and have runners along the ground. Each plant produces a big plate of these peanuts, which grow on the ends of the roots and are the size of acorns, and has a hull of similar thickness and hardness, but it is white and curled and has inside each shell 3 or 4 peanuts, which have the appearance of “pinhões” (pine nuts), with the hulls, but thicker. They have a brownish skin from which they are easily removed as with the “pinhões”, the inner part of which is white. Eaten raw, they have the same taste as raw chickpeas, but they are usually eaten roasted and cooked in the shell, like chestnuts and are very tasty, and toasted outside of the shell they are better. In one manner or another, this fruit is excessively hot, and produce headache to anyone eating too many of them if they become sick from them. These peanuts are planted in a loose, humid soil the preparation of which has not involved any male human being, only the female Indian and halfbreed females plant them; and the husbands know nothing about these labors, if the husbands or their male slaves were to plant them they would not sprout. The females also harvest them, and as is the custom, the same ones that planted them; and to last all year they are cured in smoke and kept there until the new crop.

Portuguese women make all the sweet things from this fruit which are made from almonds, and which are cut and covered with a sugar mixture as confections (Street Urchin's Foot). And also they are cured in long, thin pieces, from which are made “candied pine nuts”, and those that are not familiar with them will eat them as that (will not recognize that they are not “pine nuts”, but peanuts). February is the right time to plant peanuts, and they are not beneath the ground any longer than May, which is time to harvest the crop, which the females do with a much celebration. (tr. Stewart in Hammons)

It is just a root, small and round. Its skin is black and its interior white; its leaves are green, small and round. It grows there at Xaltenco.

He who has a fever requires it. Nothing is mixed in; only it alone [is used], ground up. The sick one drinks it in water. When he has drunk it, he expels the ailment in the urine. (Book XI, Chap. 7, Para. 5, Sect. 9, p. 143 of the translation)

Francisco Hernández even suggests that the Spanish were responsible for bringing it, although the archeological record indicates that this was not the case:

To this herb, whose fruit the Haitians call manies, the Mexicans give the name tlalcacahoatl because they are similar to those that are called the second type of tlalcacahoatl. This similarity is especially seen in the roots. These are similar to pine nuts not only in shape but also in the taste, which is like almonds. These are also prepared with sugar and excite the sexual appetite. They are pleasing because of their sweet and appetizing taste. If they are eaten in excess, they produce headaches. They grow in the lands of Cuernavaca even though they were previously found only on the island of Haiti. (tr. Varey)

THey ſent me from the Peru, a fruite very good, that groweth vnder the earth, and very faire to beholde, and of a very good taſte in eating. This fruite hath no roote, nor doeth produce any plante, nor plante doth produce it, but that it groweth vnder the ground as the Turmas doe grow vnder the earth, which are called the Turmas of the earth. It is of the greatneſſe of halfe a finger rounde, and rounde about it is wrought with a very fayre worke, it is of a bay colour: It hath within it a little kernel, which when it is dry, maketh a ſounde within, lyke to an Almonde: the rinde of it is tawny, and ſomwhat white, parted into twoo partes lyke vnto an Almonde. It is a fruite of goood ſauour and taſte, and eating of it, it ſeemeth that you eate Nuttes.

This fruite groweth vnder the earth, in the coaſt of the Riuer of Maronnon, and it is not in any other part of al the Indias. It is to be eaten greene and dry, and the beſte way is to toſte it. It is eaten alwaies after meates, as fruite eaten laſt of all, becauſe it dryeth much the ſtomacke and leaueth it ſatiſfied, but if you eate much of it, then it bringeth heauineſſe to the head. It is a fruite in great reputation, as wel amongſt the Indians, as the Spaniardes, and with greate reaſon, for I haue eaten of them, which they haue brought mee, and they haue a good taſte. It ſeemeth to be a temperate fruite. (Fol. 93-94)

The peanut was of course included in the herbals and botanical works that emerged at the start of the 17th century. In 1605, Charles de l'Écluse (Clusius) published his Exoticorum libri decem. It includes a Latin translation of Monardes; for the section given above, it has:

Fifth, the kernel has merely been removed from its shell, a strong covering distinguished by its dark thin membrane and many veins, and cleaving firmly to the kernel; the substance itself is firm, shining white, as if the flesh of the Indian nut is baked, endowed indeed with no odor, but filled with a pleasing taste.

In 1598 I understood this kernel to be of the nut in the third place, or the fruit that is described in the third number of this chapter: now there are some very similar kernels, partly retaining pieces of their shell here, however for the most part bare, and freed from their shell, but some having the whole shell, brought from a certain ship from the island of São Tomé; certain Portuguese were carried by the same ship, whose slaves ate them on the journey mixed with some meal of certain roots. There was also a fruit by the name of the Adil Palm. (tr. after Smith in Hammons, who omits the second paragraph)

This last paragraph clarifies a passage in his earlier (1601) Rariorum plantarum historia: in a chapter on yams, on a page already referred to in the potato post, there is a section titled Natales 'origin' that briefly mentions what are presumably peanuts and emphasizes the horrible situation that underlies this stage of their spread:

I understood that the islanders of São Tomé ate these roasted or boiled, on account of this circumstance: there were some Portuguese who had bought many men, besides women and children, so that they might sell them as slaves in Lisbon. They carried these roots in their ships as food for the wretches, besides some nuts, which they ate with meal of certain roots. But all those ships were destroyed in Walcheren that year.

3. ArachusὑπόγαιοςAmericanus, Vnderground Cicheling of America or Indian Earthnuts.

The Indian Earth-nuts (the figure whereof I give you, together as they are termed to us by them that have brought them us) are very likely to grow from ſuch like plants as are formerly deſcribed, not onely by the name but by the ſight and taſte of the thing it ſelfe, for wee have not yet ſeene the face thereof above ground, yet the fruit, or Peaſe-cods (as I may ſo call it) is farre larger, whoſe outer huſke is thicke and ſomewhat long, round at both ends, or a little hooked at the lower end, of a ſullen whitiſh colour on the outſide, ſtriped, and as it were wrinckled, bunching out into two parts, where the two nuts (for they are bigger than any Filberd kernell) of Peaſe doe lie joyning cloſe one unto another, being ſomewhat long, with the roundneſſe firme and ſolide, and of a darke reddiſh colour on the out ſide, and white within taſting ſweet like a Nut, but more oily.

…

The Names

The firſt is truely taken from Bellus, aforeſaid, to be the Arachidna (or Arachydna as Columna hath it) or τῶ ἀράχω ὁμοίος, Aracoides, or Araco ſimilis of Theophraſtus mentioned in his firſt Booke and eleventh Chapter, no other plant yet knowne, agreeing ſo rightly thereunto, and deſcribeth it, but the fruit groweth as much neere under the ground joyning to the ſmall fibers thereof as above : and yet he there ſaith alſo, that neither of them beare any leafe, nor any thing like leaves : which how this can ſtand with ſence and reaſon I know not, and therefore many doe ſuſpect the text to be faultie, or elſe he is contrary to himſelfe, for he ſaith they beare no leſſe fruit under ground then above, and then they muſt beare fruit above ground, which how it can be without leaves I ſee not, for never read, heard, or ſaw, that any plant bore fruit above ground without ſtalked and leaves; the compariſon unto Aracus alſo carrying the more probabilitie : but ſurely he was miſinformed by thoſe that gathered the rootes with the fruit on them when the ſtalkes and leaves were withered and gone, he never ſeeing the plant, as it is likely, or gathering it himſelfe : the etimologie alſo of the name being compoſed of Ἀράχος and ὗδνον, Aracus and hudnon, which is tuber, confirmeth a ſuppoſall in me, that he meant this underground fruit was like the fruit of the foregoing Aracus above ground, and ſuch like is the under ground fruit hereof in cods with peaſe in them : but Columna maketh the Terræ glandes before declared to be rather this Arachydna, both from the ſolid rootes under ground, and the likeneſſe of the plant under Aracus : and ſurely it may be that both theſe were meant by Theophraſtus, for he maketh two ſorts, and both alike in bearing fruit under g[r]ound, that is, Arachidna and Araco ſimilis, or Aracoides : and we have alſo two plants, as I here ſhew you, Aracus before this, and Arachus after it, unto which they may be referred : the other two ſorts are entituled as I thinketh it fitteſt for them : the Candiots, as Bellus ſaith, call the firſt ἀγριόφακι, Agriophaci; the ſecond was ſent me by the name of Lathyrus ſub terra ſiliquifera; the laſt is generally called by our Engliſh Sea-men that goe into thoſe parts Earth-nuts, erroniouſly enough, as they doe moſt other things that they meete with. (Chap. XI, pp. 1069-1070 in EEBO)

Mandubi — A Brazilian herb rising to a foot or two feet in height, stem quadrangular or striate, from green becoming reddish, and hairy. From different directions branchlets are sprouted forth, at first as if enclosing the stem and accompanied by narrow, acuminate leaflets (folioles); soon they have a node and are extended three or four inches (digits) in length; in a row; four leaves on any branchlet, two always opposite each other, a little more than two inches long, an inch and a half broad, a pleasing green above, like trefoil (“trifolii”), becoming a little whitened below, finished with almost parallel, conspicuous nerves and fine veinlets, covered also with scattered hairs. Near the coming forth of the branchlets which bear the leaves, a pedicel appears about an inch and half long attenuated bearing a little yellow flower, reddish along the edges, consisting of two leafletes (folioles) in the manner of vetch or trefoil. The root of this (plant) by no means long, attenuated, intricate, filamentous, from which pods are grown from somewhat whitish (to) grey, of the form of the smallest cucurbits, oblong, fragile, of the size of a balsam fruit (“myrobalanus”): any one contains also two kernels, covered with a rich dark red (dark brown or purple) skin, the flesh within white, oleaginous, tasting of pistachio nuts, which are recommended baked and are served during dessert. They say that consuming many, however, causes pains of the head (headaches). The whole fruit being shaken, the seeds rattle within.

Compare Monardes cap. LX. Anchic of Peru, the same is called Mani in Spanish, as reported lib. X. cap. 2 of the description of America. (tr. Smith)

The 1658 De Indiae Utriusque Re Naturali et Medica, which combines Historia Naturalis Brasiliae and Willem Piso's De Medicina Brasiliensi, which were issued bound together in 1648, into a single work, also includes Marcgrave's description, together with an improved illustration that adds in de Laet's pods and an open three-seed pod. Based on online indices, this work used to be in Gallica, but is no longer available. Since it is 450 years old, I'd like to think that the problem is technical and not legal, but I bet it isn't.

A certain fruit called by the natives Manobi, de Léry's American History says is born under the earth in the fashion of a tuber, at the same time held together by thin filaments, the kernel is no bigger than a domestic hazelnut, and of the same taste, of gray color, with a shell no harder, than pea pods: in truth he confesses that he does not know how the leaves and seeds form, though he has eaten them often. Clusius explained de Lery other than we do: a fruit contains the kernel, and Manobi itself seems to be the same as an almond-like fruit. We doubt perhaps that Monardes described his fruit well: which seems to us more likely to be tree-like: perhaps Manobi will be some kind of Trasi? Moreover Trasi are like the fruit and seed of hazelnuts.

Joannes Jonstonus' 1662 Dendrographias collated the descriptions in many of the earlier works and thereby served as a basis for some later ones. It does not appear to be online yet.

John Ray's Historia Plantarum (1686) is another book that apparently used to be in Gallica but has been removed; it is still in EEBO, though, so I hope they aren't the ones responsible. Following Parkinson, he describes the peanut in “De Leguminibus supra infráque terram fructum ferentibus, seu Arachydna. … 3. AracusὑπόγαιοςAmericanus Park. Mundubi Braſilienſibus Marggr.” and also relates other descriptions (Vol. I, Book XVIII, Chap. 4, pp. 918-919)

In fact, the 17th century saw a new generation of naturalists journeying to America. Bernabé Cobo, as Jesuit who lived most of his life in Spanish America, completed a work in 1653 which was eventually published in 1890 as Historia del Nuevo Mundo. He writes:

The maní is a root different from all the other of the Indies, the plant is very short and very close to the ground. The fruit of this plant are small roots, each are the size of the small finger somewhat shorter, with a whitish skin very wrinkled and are thin and slender that when slightly pressed between the fingers it breaks; inside of it each root has 2 or 3 seeds very much resembling the pine nuts, covered by a red skin very slender, like that of the almond, which when removed leave the seed very white like the husked pinenut, it divides into two parts like the beans. This root is eaten as a fruit, it has very good taste cooked or toasted; but when eaten raw, it produces headaches, dizziness, and headache (megrim).

It makes good nougat (candies), confection, and other gifts (treats).

The way this plant produces fruit is by having thin ‘veins’ or slender roots (the pegs?) as in sweet potato (Batata) and to uproot it, the plant is pulled and comes out with many little rootlets (pegs?) of maní (peanuts). Quite a few are left in the soil but these are gathered by digging around in the soil.

Foxes are very fond of this fruit, and seen digging in the ground and getting the fruit. Peanut milk (leche del maní), which is obtained as in almonds, can be used much as milk of almond, which mixed with milk obtained from melon or gourd seed causes sleep when there is no sleep. As with milk of almond, if in place of sugar honey is added, it works against jaundice and for purging the kidneys. This root is called Maní (peanut) in the language of Hispaniola. Mexicans call it Cacaguate, and Peuvian Indians call it Ínchic in the Quichua language and Chocopa in the Aymara language. (tr. after Latham and del Valle in Hammons)

We have another plant, whose fruits grow in the earth, like those of the [sweet] potato, but it is very different, called Pistache, because of its shape and taste. It is a little plant that runs along the ground and produces from its small red hairy stems, which are very slender, some short thickened ‘pegs’ (queuës), and four leaflets, similar to sweet clover, and from the juncture of these shoots it sends out bright little yellow-and-russet flowers like those of broom. This plant produces small grey underground pods, which pop when squeezed; each contains two or three large fruits like a filbert nut, the seed coat is red and the inside is white, oily and of the same taste as the European Pistachio. They are used for dessert, but will cause headaches if overindulged; they are also used for making poultices to heal snake-bite and the expressed oil is considered to be equal to sweet almond oil. (tr. after Cutler in Hammons)

Since it has come up before elsewhere, it is also worth mentioning here that this work is one of the earliest to give an etymology of French requin (Littré) 'shark' from requiem:

This fish is called by the Spanish [T]iburon, by the Dutch Haai, and by the French Requin, because it devours men and so necessitates singing the Requiem for them.

Jean Baptiste Labat, a Dominican missionary, published Nouveau voyage aux isles de l'Amerique in 1722, with a second edition in 1742. He has a quite detailed description of peanuts, which will be the last one quoted here. The older edition is in Gallica, but the scan is defective because of a fold-out plate and so missing the first page of the following description. There is a scan of the second edition in GDZ, but I cannot figure out how to deep-link to pages in it; the description starts on page 366 (391 : 366 in the drop-down list).

Before I get to the chapter on wild fruits, it is necessary that I speak of one which does not work so hard to pick as the preceding, since it comes in the ground, instead it is necessary to go find the other in the middle of the air. One calls it ‘pistachio’ very inappropriately: because it does not in any way approach true pistachios, neither in taste, nor in color, nor in the shell which contains it, nor for the manner in which nature produces it.

It appears that my comrade Father du Tertre have never seen real pistachios, and never eaten then, since he writes, that those of the islands have the same taste as those of Europe. That is forgivable, since it is not a thing which one finds among religious men where he entered when he was very young, and he was perhaps also fooled by the young Dutch merchant of whom M. Tavenier spoke in his Memoirs who took them for green beans.

True pistachios only grow in Asia. The tree which bears them is a dozen to fifteen feet in height. Their leaves are almost round, and close enough to those of terebinth. It has flowers which are only bundles of small stems like fringe, after which the fruit also appear as bundles. They are covered by two envelopes. The first is green, mixed with some red points and lines, a little like the consistency of the bottom of common nuts: it encloses a white shell, hard and strong, relatively thin, which covers a long almond, round, pointed at both ends, whose bottom is green and red and the top very green. This almond is very agreeable in taste, so that one can eat it raw or cooked. One supposes that it is very hot.

The fruit which one calls ‘pistachios’ in the islands came from a plant that is hardly a foot high and which is ordinarily a running (creeper), because its stem is too feeble to support it. It puts out a lot of slender stems, that are red and velvety, accompanied by little ‘pegs’ (queuës=tails), which carry leaves almost like sweet clover and nasturtium-colored flowers, which are yellow with red at the edges and at the extremities. The flowers are delicate and their short life is due to the fact that they are grilled and shriveled up by the heat of the sun. The fruit is formed in the earth where it must be looked for. It is attached by filaments to hairs that the roots put out (sic) which come from stems distributed on the surface of the earth, where they enter and produce pods or hulls 12, 15, and 18 ‘lignes’ long which are 4, 5, or 6 ‘lignes’ in diameter. [ligne = 0.0888 inch.] The pods are not much thicker than a good parchment, or tender almond. The interior is covered with a fine white skin that is smooth and lustrous; the outside is bister (brown) colored with white streaks, and ridges go from one end of the shell to the other and these are totally connected by a network of lines which divide the surface into a number of small areas. The fruit (seed) which is contained in these pods has the shape of an olive when it is single, but ordinarily there are two, or three, in a pod where they take up the entire space so tightly that they take on different shapes. The fruits, or kernels, are covered with a reddish seed coat when they comes out of the earth, but the color changes to gray when the fruit is dry. The skin adheres lightly to the fruit, when it is fresh and one has only to squeeze it between the fingers to remove it. When dry it is difficult to remove. The meat that it covers is white, compact and dense and it has the odor and taste that resembles an acorn. When the fruit is roasted in its pod the seedcoat (pellicle) becomes powdery and the white meat which it surrounds turns a greyish color and acquires the taste and aroma of roasted almonds. Our ‘Esculapes’ believe that the fruit is good for the stomach. I don't know anything about that. I have only noticed that eating them raw exaggerates their bad taste and that they are indigestible and that they cause great heating (échauffent beaucoup). It is perhaps in that way alone that they resemble real pistachios. They produce less undesirable effects when roasted, since they stimulate the appetite and thirst: people use them to make sugar peanuts, marzipan, and they are put into hash and stews as a substitute for chestnuts: it is used still to give to rossolis an odor and taste of roasted almonds which is not disagreeable. While it is necessary to point out the various uses of the peanut, they are always indigestible and heavy, and they heat up greatly (échauffent beaucoup).

Father du Tertre says that they are bad for the head for those who eat too many, that one makes poultices which heal snakebites and that the oil which one presses is esteemed as much as sweet almond oil.

I have not experimented at all, nor have I heard tell that this fruit caused anyone headaches. I am very sure that no one has ever thought to cure snakebite with such a remedy, and, during the many years that I spent in the islands, I have not heard of anyone recommending expressing the oil from these ‘Pistaches’ even though we might often enough have an urgent need for it.

When this plant has been planted in the earth a single time, one can be sure that it will remain there for a long time. Because whatever care is taken rummaging for the fruit, it is not possible that they are all removed, or at least, a few filaments or some root hairs, and that is to perpetuate the race to infinity. (tr. after Cutler)

In 1737, Linnaeus coined the generic name Arachis by shortening Arachidna and published it in Critica Botanica (pp. 42, 114; translation snippets). Arachis hypogaea was included in Species Plantarum in 1753 (Vol II, p. 741) and Genera Plantarum in 1764 (p. 377). Arachidna (ἀράχιδνα) is Lathyrus amphicarpos or some other species of Lathyrus, a wild vetch. It is described by Pliny (Book XXI, 15, 52, Sect. 89; the scan of Bostock and Riley's translation in Google Books seems to be missing the relevant page 349; but it's in the Internet Archive and Perseus: of additional interest is that œtum, perhaps just another Egyptian variety of colocasia, in the immediately preceding sentence, is footnoted by them “The Arachis hypogæa of Linnæus, the earth pistachio.” — 1855 is quite late for someone to think it could have been known to Pliny) and Theophrastus (1.1.7; translation; 1.6.12; translation) — these passages were referred to in the potato post, since they concern fruit which grows underground. ἄρακος and ἄραχος, which is Vicia sibthorpii or some other vetch, are also referred to by Galen (De alimentorum facultatibus, Kühn 6.541: strangely only a few other volumes of Kühn are in Google Books, but here is another edition; translation). Since many different theories seem to be given in books and on the Web for the generic name Arachis, it is worth summarizing: